Message from the headteacher

Very high levels of staff absence related (directly or indirectly) to Covid have again put pressure on all educators, including those at Highfields this week. We are struggling through it as best we can, but teacher discontinuity is always going to have an impact on educational settings like ours.

As you know, senior leaders try and visit every classroom at least once a day. On my travels this week I came across Alisha in DT who was using a powered fret saw to cut Perspex for a … actually I can’t remember what the end product was. The thing was it got me thinking about risk. Her little fingers were centimetres from the cutting tool and I felt a bit nervous. When I spoke to her, however she was quite clearly properly trained and had earnt the trust of the staff in the lesson to competently use that tool. You have to give trust to gain trust. Or something like that.

On Monday morning a tired looking Mrs Barker relayed the series of unfortunate events which was last weekend’s trip to London. After 45 minutes sitting in the theatre an operative came on stage and announced that the performance was cancelled due to a technical fault. 30 students, Friday night, central London, no organised activity? No problem. And off they went with a contingency plan. The next morning they eagerly arrived for a tour of Houses of Parliament…to find it closed following the violent death of David Amess. Another contingency plan. And to seal the deal they missed their connecting training in Derby (or somewhere) and were delayed for another hour in the cold and wet. It seems after all this, that student feedback was fabulous and they had ‘an amazing time’. It’s funny how young people respond to setbacks and dramas. I remember the time when I asked my daughter what she had most enjoyed about the half term holiday (plenty of activities at much expense) and she said, ‘the time you ran over that cyclist’ (not my fault). HUGE THANKS to the organisers of the trip under the leadership of Mrs Barker.

On Thursday night my Harriet and I got to see the first half of the vocal concert at Lumsdale. Wonderful performances from all but I was particularly drawn to the light, perfectly tuned English tenor of Max R singing some very tasty Schumann. Just after the interval we skipped down to Starkholmes to witness the madness of the Y7 Halloween disco. Y7 is particularly cohesive this year and a joy to teach which probably explains the sheer number of staff there supporting. Huge thanks to ALL of them especially the Y7 Hughes/Green dream team and DJ Shirtcliffe who served up some bangers and drove the year group into a frenzy.

And finally an apology to my wonderful daughter who, having been whisked around our school sites for the evening managed to follow me through a door at speed and got an egg on her head when it swung back at her. Wonderful evening, wonderful school, idiot father.

Have a marvellous weekend and half term!

We are most definitely Highfields.

A Marsh Headteacher